Charmed, I'm Sure
by Overworkedunderwhelmed
Summary: Ladybug just knows there's an Akuma out there. Her instincts and experience insist upon it. But without any obvious signs, is it just paranoia on her part or has Hawkmoth truly stepped up his game? After a very charming incident with Chat Noir, both heroes are left to wonder what this all might mean for their Akuma-fighting future as heroes. (LadyNoir July 2018)
1. Patrol & First Impressions

Author's Notes:

Trying my best to incorporate prompts from both Calendars here.

Beta read by Enberlight (with plenty of title and summary help, too)! Thank you! 3

* * *

It should have seemed like any other patrol night. The low whistle of her yo-yo cut through the air, above streets that were mostly quiet, except for the slow, sleepy ambling of the locals heading home from a late supper in town.

For all appearances, everything was normal, which is why it was a surprise when Ladybug began to feel unnerved.

But a certain je ne sais quoi prickled at the back of Ladybug's neck.

Something felt...off.

It certainly wasn't her partner.

Chat Noir chattered happily as he'd dogged her heels along the rooftop run. Something good must have happened to him today.

His good mood was infectious, and he didn't seem inclined to settle down any time soon even as they talked through new possible plans of defense. "Really, my Lady, you should let me get us a pair of pay as you go phones. It would be so much easier to work things out to be ready on the fly."

"Sure, Chaton." Ladybug shook her head fondly, peering back over her shoulder as she steadied her gait over the peak of the roof. "And I suppose you wouldn't just accidently use it to test out new puns?"

He scoffed, the gleaming grin on his face betrayed the feigned affort. "Puns are a very valuable battle strategy, my Lady."

Ladybug snorted. Were it not for the fact that she got to go to the movies with Adrien! - and Alya and Nino of course - earlier today, she might even be likely to roll her eyes a bit more at the threat of puns dripping from his lips.

* * *

They were two sparring bouts deep into a training session atop the Trocadero, when Ladybug squared her shoulders and settled her weight over her front foot to prepare for a third attack

Her yo-yo was up to speed, as Chat Noir readied his baton.

Her eyes narrowed. It looked like he was about to break right, favoring the one side heavily.

Instead, he extended his baton, getting it intentionally tangled in her yo-yo string and tugging it free of her hands with the aid of the reverb.

Clenching her jaw, Ladybug tossed a punch. Hand to hand wasn't her specialty, but she knew she needed to take full advantage of the element of surprise to get one over on him.

Chat Noir had just managed to drop his baton and turn to face her head on when her first punch landed against his cupped palm. He danced about, forever fast on his feet.

She'd watched him move often enough to know he could sneak close, so she held herself removed until he beat her to the - literal - punch.

Ladybug barely stifled a groan at the thought. She clearly had been spending a little too much time of late with her partner. His bad habits were starting to rub off on her.

He swung his fists wildly, intentionally swinging wide.

Her eyes narrowed, as she swooped in, knocking him back to the ground with what little momentum she could.

Her eyes rolled up towards the setting sun. There was no doubt in her mind now. He kept conveniently timing his feints so that she kept knocking him to the ground.

Admittedly it had taken until the third go - and one very unrepentant eyebrow waggle from her ridiculous partner - for her to be sure that she'd caught wise to his ploy.

"Ugh!" Ladybug sighed, pressing his shoulder back to the ground as she stood back up. "Kitty, you've got to stop pulling your punches!"

It was almost as if Chat Noir considered these patrols like some sort of play date, instead of the serious superhero business it ought to be.

Ladybug frowned, looking out over the city, still searching for...something. She knew that Alya would be stuck babysitting her sisters tonight, so there would be no furtive Ladyblog photoshoots in progress. There weren't even any rogue vigilantes about since The Owl had settled into his far more tame routine.

Even Hawkmoth had been quiet for the last few days.

If there was an Akuma, there was almost always an air of panic. But there wasn't even the slightest hint of anyone running away from an Akuma in the dusk, or the hew and cry of a crime in progress.

Instead...there was this only uncanny silence.

It was unsettling, to say that least. But if Chat Noir noticed, he hadn't said a thing.

* * *

They were nearly back to their usual patrol meet up point, when Chat Noir had decided to play again.

"Tag," He smirked, tapping her on the shoulder with a gloved hand, before he'd vaulted off on his baton.

Ladybug snorted and gave chase, weaving between the buildings on her yo-yo.

Chat definitely thought this was a play date.

But at least it had been quiet for nearly the last hour. She'd extended the patrol a little bit because she wanted to reassure herself that all was well before she dared to sleep for the night.

He was leading her on a merry chase, spinning in circles around the loop of houses that encircled the park beside her house.

On what must have been the fourth loop, Ladybug had heard the oddest crackling noise just after she went careening past.

"Chat!" she shouted, swinging herself up onto the rooftop and crouching down beside the gutter, scanning the houses below.

He spun on a dime, dropping down beside her in no time at all.

She frowned, pointing down to the balcony almost directly below them.

"Am I crazy or did that statue used to be another potted plant there?"


	2. Gift & Akuma

Blearily, his eyes opened at first light, just barely making out the number on his digital clock, and tugging the cover back over his head with a groan.

He'd barely gotten a few good hours of sleep and now his body was insistent it was time to wake up.

Adrien groaned, carding his fingernails through his sleep-mussed hair. He never would have expected that one little flower pot turned stone could create such chaos.

But, of course, his Lady had been right. He too had heard the low-pitched fizzle and snap, the more quiet indications of Akumatized power.

Akuma usually had all the subtlety of a truck careening down the slim city streets.

The stone pot appearance hadn't been followed by screams of terror and running in the opposite direction. It had just shown up all of a sudden, with no apparent provocation, no miraculous-demanding follow through.

Adrien clenched his jaw. It wasn't often that Hawkmoth seemed to change tactics.

But with as tired as he was, it seemed like this more subtle route was far more effective. He was physically exhausted and hardly battle ready...all without the first clue as to where to find the elusive Akuma.

After the little surprise, Adrien assumed that neither he nor his Lady had slept well, ill at ease and forever waiting for the inevitable alert that would pull them both from their respective beds and into action.

But...it just never came.

Instead, he had laid in bed, tossing anxiously. He waited for a call, watched the news. Apparently, even with the endless stream of Akuma, the sudden appearance of statues around the city weren't registering as far enough out of the ordinary to cause concern.

At least, not until someone's precious poodle was snapped up looking at herself in the mirror. That seemed to have been the first that anyone even thought to mention a thing, even on the comment section of the Ladyblog. And even the few who posted there all thought it was some sort of prank.

He'd finally fallen into a fitful sleep around 23:00, although his body was much too used to the early wake up times. He'd grabbed his phone from the nightstand at 5:00, only to see that a few more reports had trickled onto the Ladyblog's forums overnight.

After a quick browser search, Adrien kicked off the covers and headed straight for the mini-fridge in his room. Moments later, he dropped bit of Camembert into Plagg's favorite trash can and headed to the bathroom to try to look presentable.

If he hurried, he could get there and back with plenty of time to spare.

* * *

It was quite a while later when Marinette finally woke up. Stubbornly, she stayed tucked away in bed until the last possible minute. At least she'd taken a shower the night before when sleep had been so elusive.

She's spent far more time on the Ladyblog last night than she'd ever admit to Alya.

Blinking, she and Tikki pored over the blog updates. There were a few more statues that had appeared throughout the city while she had slept.

But nothing that made anyone panic. Her cell phone was primed to buzz loudly, vibrating against her nightstand to wake her - well, at least wake Tikki - up.

It was really weird, but it seemed like no one was really freaking out.

Except her.

"I don't get it, Tikki." She mumbled, sliding down from her bed. "Is everyone just too used to the freaking out and running?"

Tikki shrugged, flitting about the room to help her charge get ready for school. "That is possible, Marinette."

"I mean, I guess it seems like there is no rhyme or reason to where these things are appearing." Marinette frowned. "And since I'm sure this must be an Akuma, that's far scarier to me."

* * *

Tikki smuggled the note she'd prepared for her mother down in the kitchen, before she helped Marinette transform and leap up onto her own balcony. Taking the faster route to school and hiding her backpack inside her locker was far preferable than trying to drag herself half asleep upon the street.

Swinging herself back up onto the rooftop of the school, she took the chance to try and call Chat Noir before she headed towards the school.

It was almost too much to hope that she might catch him transformed in these too early hours.

But if she didn't reach him, she would have to figure out some way to sneak out of class, transform, and get anything identifiable out of the frame before she tried to reach him again.

Ladybug sighed, sliding her thumb against the yo-yo to open the screen and start the call.

She was a little surprised to see his smiling face already on the other end.

"Purrfect, my Lady!" He grinned wildly. "I was just hoping I could cat-ch you early this morning."

Groaning, she let her eyes slam shut. "Ugh. It is much too early in the morning for you to start with the puns."

He chuckled, "Well, I figured you might fur-give me, since I've got a gift for you?"

Blinking, Ladybug halted mid-eye roll. "Wait. What gift?"

Chat Noir's lip quirked up to the side in a cocky little smirk. "You'll see soon enough, my Lady."


	3. Playful & Lucky Charm

"Chaton," Ladybug grumbled, eyeing the very new model of phone he'd placed into her hands. "I'm really not okay with this. We really should have talked about this before you bought them."

He sighed. "I tried to talk to you about it last night. Several times. When you weren't transformed and didn't pick up your on your yo-yo."

She sighed, opening the screen. "Only one number?"

"And you can call or text." Chat smirked. "I did buy both phones and the minutes with euros. Although I guess we ought to try to stay as cryptic as possible, just in case someone is paying attention."

"Kitty…" Ladybug shook her head. "You paid too much for this…"

"For peace of mind and a little extra sleep?" Chat smiled, one gloved hand slipping easily onto her shoulder. "I think that's worth it."

Ladybug shifted her weight, settling the hand that held the new phone at her hip. It was going to be hard enough to hide this extra phone from Alya without a whole new set of questions. "What do I owe you?"

He shrugged. "Just an answer when I text. The cost wasn't really an issue for me. I've...had allowance money in a savings account that was looking for a good use."

"You didn't use all your savings, did you?"

Chat burst out laughing. "Was that what you were worried about?" A grin slipped into place with a shameless wink to match. "Not to worry, Bugaboo. I still can afford a nice date with you, anytime you want. In fact, now you can even text me."

She pushed back his nose, much too tired for him to start in with the flirtatious antics this early in the morning. "Why text when we can talk now?"

Chat's brows rose, blinking as he backed up to full height.

She sighed...bringing him back to business. "I won't have much more time before someone will be missing me...Did you notice anything on the news?"

"There wasn't a lot of chatter out there…just the one story about the poodle on the Ladyblog."

"That's the one with the mirror, right?" Ladybug frowned, meeting her partner's gaze. "Was the plant near a mirror, too?"

* * *

Chat Noir vaulted easily across the few blocks from the school towards the park. There wasn't nearly enough time before class at this point, but if they didn't find out now, there was no way either one of them could focus.

There would be no way that they could try to plan how to deal with this thing.

Ladybug had sped on ahead, entrusting him with both their phones simply because he conveniently had pockets.

When he landed beside her on the balcony, she was already looking at the plant again. A gloved finger was poking at the grey frond. "It isn't really stone-like," she murmured, pressing the leaf again as it bent just slightly against the pressure. "But it is pretty rigid."

Chat Noir peered inside. "Sure enough, there's a mirror that is pointed this way."

Standing beside him, Ladybug blanched. "If I had my doubts before, this would fix that."

"You and I just had just come rushing past when you noticed it, right?"

"Yeah…" Ladybug nibbled her lower lip, deep in thought.

Chat looked away, desperate to stay focused. "So why didn't it keep attacking?"

She shrugged, her arms crossing over her chest. "And how did it move all over the place without anyone noticing? The reports I keep seeing had the dog frozen in place about three neighborhoods over."

He shook his head, puzzled. This was really bizarre. But he would be lying if he said he didn't mind the less frenetic pace of the investigation. It was nice to just be able to linger by her side without the mad, headlong rush into danger.

"So we know it appears near mirrors." Ladybug paced the small metal floor. "And it sounds like there may be some sort of line of sight to the attack based upon the dog and how we found this plant."

Chat's eyes followed her, before peering back at the mirror. "And it has to be an Akuma, doesn't it? I can't think of anything outside of magic that might do something like this."

"Honestly, Chat," her blue eyes narrowed, "I can only hope you're right. Then we have at least some idea of what we must be working with…"

Scowling back towards the mirror, Chat's claws bit into the brick. He could have sworn he'd seen a weird glimmer in the glass out of the corner of his eye.

Ladybug sighed, her pacing growing more agitated by the second. "We don't know how it moves. We don't know what it does…"

His ear twitched, the hairs at the back of his neck standing on end.

Ladybug peered back at him, her nose wrinkling up in that adorable little way it always did when she was a little puzzled. "I don't even think we could begin to guess what it wants."

Hissing, he rocked on his heels to pick up momentum, tugging her out of the way and into his arms just as the rail across the street took on a grey cast compared to all the neighboring balconies.

Her eyes were wide as she stared up at him, slightly breathless as she pushed herself out of his hold.

Chat's grin sharpened, claws slipping down to clasp the balcony door handle.

"Well, my Lady, I think we're just about to find out."

She slipped behind the brickwork, crouching low as she summoned her Lucky Charm.

Her gaze darted everywhere, searching for something that would make the small reflective disc she'd received make a little more sense.

He gripped the handle a little more tightly when her gaze slipped back up to his, wringing her hands around the slim disc. "Anything?" he mouthed.

Ladybug shook her head, nodding towards the door.

Chat sighed, hoping that whatever she would need to take this Akuma down would be in there.

He would definitely be late enough for class as it was.

* * *

Author's Notes:

I'm doing what I can here, but I am dealing with health issues that might delay my posting schedule. Please bear with me, even if I need to slip behind the curve.

I have a plan and I will stick to it. :)


	4. Puns & Clumsiness

Ladybug frowned, gloved fingers clutching the edge of the polka-dotted disc.

She hated going in blind. Add to that fact that the element of surprise was gone, and that they were up against some sort of Akuma that could literally freeze you into place with a single blast - possibly even permanently.

They didn't even know what this thing looked like, so it has plenty of time to attack them both before either one of them might find cover.

Chat Noir threw open the glass door, but neither dared to peer around the corner. There was a fan running inside to combat the early summer heat.

But otherwise all was eerily silent.

At least until another flash of power slipped through the open doorway.

Chat's glowing green eyes darted back to hers for a fleeting moment before he was on the move. He scrambled in first, ducking down to the floor behind furniture before the Akuma could have another chance to fire off a clean shot.

It was entirely reckless, but Ladybug knew she had no choice but to follow.

They both needed to get close enough to understand what they were up against.

Chat Noir had his back against the chaise, crouching down and watching for her cue to slip into action.

Once she was sure she was safe behind the couch, Ladybug's gaze darted around what little of the apartment she could see, searching for a way to use the Lucky Charm. Maybe there was a computer or a DVD player somewhere around here?

She crawled forward, looking for a better vantage point.

Ladybug peered over the sofa edge for just a moment, before her eyes widened. She fell back behind the couch on instinct.

The surprisingly soft voice of the Akuma murmured. "Stay still, would you?"

Ladybug winced, still trying to get back on her feet without shifting past the safety of the couch. She couldn't trust that the beam wouldn't slip between her yo-yo on rotation.

"Don't you think Paris has enough Ladybug and Chat Noir statues, already?"

Crawling forward again, Ladybug was sure that Chat was in distraction mode. He wouldn't just be sassing at the target without reason. It had taken a while, but she was pretty sure he started that up when he'd had a little bit of a plan...and a few puns at the ready.

She took advantage of Chat's distraction to peek around the side to get a better view of their adversary. It was like the Akuma was part of the mirror, but could reach out with her hand from the silvery pool. Her face was also mirrorlike, the flat glass bending outward with the curves of her nose and lips as she pushed forward to speak. Her voice sounded strangely muffled, almost as if she was shouting from behind a closed window.

"Whatever it takes… I need your miraculous."

Ladybug winced as another clear thrum of power rushed through the air and something landed on the ground with a thunk.

Her fingers bit into the upholstery, uncertain of her partner's fate.

She wanted to stand, wanted to assure herself that he was okay.

But she knew she couldn't.

Because the whole of Paris needed her to put this Akuma to rest - even if they didn't know it yet.

But how could she use the Lucky Charm against a mirror? She spun the silvered disk idly between her fingers.

"Hmm..." Chat sneered cheekily. "I just can't see myself doing that."

Ladybug exhaled sharply at the sound of his voice, but couldn't afford the moment of relief.

She heard him lobbing something small - or was that several small somethings? - over at the mirror.

The Akuma was moving too fast and it was hard to tell where she'd be next...especially when they couldn't look for long without running the risk of becoming statues themselves.

It seemed almost impossible that either of them could get much closer without pushing the furniture towards the mirror. But, Ladybug puzzled, it was odd enough that the Akuma hadn't frozen the furniture as well.

Beside, there was no telling whether or not a couch would be sturdy enough to handle two blasts in a row.

And if she even moved it an inch there was no telling how this Akuma would react.

Grinning, Ladybug spotted the DVD player, her restless fingers stilling upon the disk as a plan formed.

Now, if only she could just get Chat Noir's attention.


End file.
